Abstract

The expression level of Programmed Death-Ligand 1 (PD-L1) determined by the immunohistochemical method is currently approved to test the potential efficacy of immune-checkpoint inhibitors and to candidate patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) for treatment with immunotherapeutic drugs. As part of the CORELAB (New prediCtivebiOmaRkers of activity and Efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in advanced non-small cell Lung cArcinoma) project, aimed at identifying new predictive and prognostic biomarkers in NSCLC patients receiving immunotherapeutic drugs, we investigated the role of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) molecular characterization as an additional predictive biomarker. We analyzed plasma ctDNA by targeted Next Generation Sequencing in a subset of 50 patients at different time points. ctDNA content was inversely correlated with the clinical outcome both at a baseline and after 2 months of treatment. OS was significantly higher in patients with ≥50% ctDNA reduction. and were the most frequently mutated genes, and patients with and/or mutations showed worse outcomes than patients without detectable variants or with mutations in other genes. Fewer common variants were found in , , , , , and genes. Our data demonstrated that molecular characterization of ctDNA and also its quantitative evaluation could serve as a dynamic, real-time prognostic, and predictive biomarker, enabling regular molecular monitoring of therapy efficacy in support of other medical examinations.

MeSH

Cells, Genes, Lung, Neoplastic Cells, Circulating, Pharmaceutical Preparations, Neoplasms, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, Cell-Free Nucleic Acids, Biomarkers, Immunotherapy, Lung Neoplasms, Small Cell Lung Carcinoma, Therapeutics, Dna, Liquid Biopsy, Mutation

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